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Editorial Reviews

Gene Wilder, Cleavon Little, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman. Villagers must defend their small town from a group of mercenaries in this sidesplitting send-up that pokes fun at nearly every Western ever filmed. Directed by Mel Brooks and sub-titled A Psycho-Comedy . 1974/color/94 min/PG.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

For some reason, High Anxiety is not nearly as admired as some of Mel Brooks' other films. I don't think I've ever read a truly glowing review of High Anxiety. No one really hates it, but no one really likes it, either. Roger Ebert explained that because Alfred Hitchcock's films contained so much humor, High Anxiety, as a satire was unnecessary and redundant.If this is indeed the rationale for High Anxiety's lukewarm reception, then I personally think that ALL of the critics just don't get it. While it's true that Hitchcock films contain loads of humor (Robert Donat's political speech in The 39 Steps, the auction scene in North By Northwest and Alec McCowen's "gourmet" meals in Frenzy come to mind), the most vivid Hitchcock moments are dead serious. The burning of Manderley in Rebecca, the fight on the merry-go-round in Strangers on a Train, the bell tower scene in Vertigo, the cropduster attack in North By Northwest and, of course, the shower scene in Psycho are deadly serious scenes. These are the moments that Brooks spoofs in High Anxiety. The humor is dead on, giving the serious Hitchcock buffs several gigantic laughs throughout the film.Take, for example, Brooks' take on the shower scene from Psycho. Director Barry Levinson plays a psychotic bellboy who is pushed over the edge by Brooks' repeated requests for a newspaper. He bursts into Brooks' hotel bathroom and "stabs" him with the newspaper. Brooks duplicates every angle and visual detail of the original, right down to Janet Leigh's fuzzy bathroom slippers. He uses ink from the newspaper to simulate the blood swirling down the drain in Psycho.Read more ›

This is the funniest movie, and the world awaits the DVD. When, oh when, will it finally arrive????? There are so many of my all time favorite movie moments in this classic comedy. Who could forget Dr. Charles Montague and Nurse Diesel's cagey response after being interrupted during an intimate moment: 'Sorry for the dissssturbance.' (I probably know the dialogue for this entire movie by heart!) Nurse Diesel arrived on the scene long before Madonna and her tectonic bras. What about Dr. Wentworth's trouble with the car radio? Or Brophey's ineptitude? Every scene is memorable, but if I had the DVD, I would repeatedly jump to Dr. Thorndyke's dramatic lounge act where he wooed Victoria Brisbane by singing the very romantic song 'High Anxiety,' all the while slapping the microphone chord on the ground for dramatic effect. Which is to say nothing of Hitchcock--whose movie plots provide endless fodder for this Mel Brooks masterpiece. The cast is superb, and the movie divine. Granted, this is one review that is not written with those who've never seen the movie in mind. My intent is to take a stroll down memory lane, because this movie deserves to be on DVD.

Allow me to begin by stating that "High Anxiety" is by far, one the all-time BEST Mel Brooks films. Being a huge Hitchcock fan, I immediately became attached to this one. Thank you to 20th Century Fox for finally making this available in Region 1 DVD format for the US.

If you're even just a bit curious, check this title out. You won't be dissatisfied.

For my money, the best Mel Brooks' movies are the ones that he doesn't appear or barely appears in, like THE TWELVE CHAIRS, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, and THE PRODUCERS. This film is one of the exceptions. Also, for my money, the best Mel Brooks' movies are those that are flat out parodies of film genres--like BLAZING SADDLES and SPACEBALLS. This film is the highest achievement of his parodic form.HIGH ANXIETY is Alfred Hitchcock on goofballs. The references are wide-ranging: "Psycho", "The Birds", "Vertigo" (the main parody plot), "The Man Who Knew Too Much", "Notorious", etc. The result is out and out Brooks' mania, and, of course, a certain reverence to Hitchcock. My only negative comment isn't specific to this film but it does apply: most parodies run out of gas during the course of a feature length film. Once the novelty wears off, the film kind of lags. That's why the best film parodies are usually skits on variety or comedy television shows. Probably the only exception to my theory would be 1980's "Airplane". (See my review of that for a further explanation.) Still, HIGH ANXIETY has enough manic energy to sustain it for the most part. It's a clever film and extremely entertaining.

HIGH ANXIETY was Mel Brooks' salute to Alfred Hitchcock. Though many of the gags do fall flat, the entire movie as a whole is a complete joy.

Mel Brooks plays Richard Thorndyke, the new head psychiatrist of the leading `Institute For the Very, Very Nervous'. Thorndyke himself is plagued by bouts of `high anxiety' (vertigo). When Thorndyke is framed for murder and discovers the sinister cover-ups at the Institute, he joins the leggy Victoria Brisbane (Madeline Kahn) in a race against time to rescue her father from the clutches of sadistic Head Nurse Diesel (Cloris Leachman)!

Brooks and the rest of the cast have an absolute ball. Cloris Leachman sports a traffic-cone decolletage that would make Madonna jealous, in her inspired performance as Nurse Diesel (and her scenes with Harvey Korman are hysterical; you won't be able to view their performances in HERBIE GOES BANANAS the same way again). Madeline Kahn is Kim Novak, Eva Marie Saint and Tippi Hedren combined in her performance as Victoria Brisbane (now that's quite a lot of Hitchcock cool blonde-ness!).